We received a message in our inbox yesterday from Rob Sand, current State Auditor regarding who really does “own” the state auditor’s office.
“I’ve got news for all the partisan players here in Iowa: Nobody “owns” this office — a State Auditor serves the taxpayers, full stop.
I’m not afraid to go head-to-head with political partisans, — but I could use your help making sure they can’t buy this race to install their “own” State Auditor.
Here’s the deal. I have gone after whoever has deserved it and defended whoever has deserved it — governors, institutions, insiders, Republicans, Democrats, Independents, you name it. That’s what I promise to keep doing — telling the truth and holding powerful people accountable to you.” – Rob Sand
Please consider a donation to Rob Sand for Iowa State Auditor. Go to his website at robsand.com. Follow him on Facebook.
The only person suing someone every time she turns around is Reynolds.
Campaign alert for Tom Miller from J. D. Scholten. And while you’re at it support JD for Iowa House District 1. Visit his campaign website and make a donation here.
Many folks know me as the baseball player who took on Steve King and nearly beat him in a very red district. But did you know that Steve King’s former Chief of Staff is running to become Iowa’s next Attorney General?
Tom’s an honest, hardworking Attorney General who has always put the best interests of Iowans first. No divisive politics. No attacking people based on their race or religion. Just good ol’ fashioned serving everyday people.
We can’t afford more extremism taking over our politics. Brenna Bird is already pledging to take the Biden Administration to court, instead of proposing real solutions to our problems. That’s not leadership, it’s political theater.
Tom Miller is often called the “People’s Lawyer” and for good reason. Tom’s not here to make headlines by throwing mud, he’s working to hold corporate special interests accountable, including Big Pharma for the opioid crisis. And he’s laser focused on protecting our family farms and making sure Iowans are protected from scams.
From our inbox received from the White House Office of Public Engagement on Friday August 12 – Check below for links to briefings/webinars this week including today, Tuesday at 2:30 central. Find out how the Inflation Reduction Act will tackle the climate crisis, cut prescription drug costs and benefit rural America.
And don’t forget – sharing is caring!
Today, with the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act in Congress, President Biden is on track to deliver one of the most historic legislative achievements that delivers for American families and grows the economy from the bottom up and middle out.
President Biden ran for office promising to make government work for working families, and that is exactly what this bill will do. Please see below a tweet from the President, and join us next week to discuss the different components of the historic Inflation Reduction Act. We encourage you to share these briefings with your networks broadly. Thank you for being a part of making today happen, and for all you do to serve your communities!
BRIEFINGS Briefing: How the Inflation Reduction Act Will Cut Costs for American Families with Special Guest Secretary Granholm
A catch-all briefing on the components of the Inflation Reduction Act Date: Tuesday, August 16th Time: 3:30 PM ET RSVP: https://pitc.zoomgov.com/webinar/register/WN_VskSVy3TQgaB8eO2g6dVnw
Briefing: How the Inflation Reduction Act will Cut Prescription Drug Costs, Lower Health Insurance Premiums and Expand Coverage with Special Guest Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services Andrea Palm Date: Thursday, August 18th Time: 1:00 PM ET RSVP: https://pitc.zoomgov.com/webinar/register/WN_LfSsDsUVTxuSV5WvT-2qHQ
Here is something Chuck Grassley, Miller-Meeks, Ashley Hinson, Zach Nunn or Randy Feenstra won’t tell you: If the radical Republicans take over congress and then win it all in 2024 Social Security will be first on the chopping block.
Don’t want Mom and Dad to move in with you? Better think about that before you vote this fall.
Ron Johnson, running to keep his senate seat in Wisconsin, has already said that he wants Social Security funds to be voted on every year, rather than having the separate fund that SS currently has. How well do you think that is going to work?
It is Iowa State Fair time once again. Iowa’s fair is what most people conjure up in their minds when they think of state fairs. As a matter of fact the Iowa state fair was the model for the movie “State Fair.” The midway, the antiques in the large barns, the somewhat exotic food and of course the various barns and tents for judging everything from veggies and sewing to cows and pigs.
Perhaps one of the most remembered events that have occasionally been featured at the Iowa State Fair are the train wrecks. The video below (2:20) gives a brief history and a quick view of a couple of the train wrecks. If they had one this year, the trains could be “Trump” and “Justice.”
Talk about something dominating the news. Looks like the collision between “Trump” and “Justice” is nigh. I am betting on Justice.
A) What day this week was the Mar-a-Lago resort swept for illegal documents?
B) Where was the former guy when the sweep took place?
C) Meanwhile, Democrats were governing. What major bill that affects climate, prescription drug prices and many other issues was passed and sent to Biden to sign?
D) Yes, we will have some State Fair questions. The first fair took place in October, 1854 in what Iowa town?
E) Governor Reynolds, trying to avoid putting abortion news out during the election, took what step this week to ban most abortions in Iowa?
F) A Trump supporter in what major city tried to attack the FBI headquarters in that city?
G) Among the documents the FBI was looking for in their sweep, perhaps most disturbing is that they were looking for what specific genre of documents?
H) Climate Change, part 1. What major Asian city suffered through 20 inches of rain in one night causing huge damage and deaths?
I) In a somewhat quiet corner of Trump vs. Justice, a court ruled that the House Ways and Means committee could get what records from Trump?
J) How many food classes are judged at the Iowa State Fair annually?
K) Misdirection: Trump tried to change the story on his document theft by saying what former president has taken 33 million government documents?
L) August 13, 1961 – What symbol of the Cold War appeared overnight in a major German city?
M) Long the subject of a fatwah issued by the Iranian government, what author was attacked and stabbed while giving a lecture in New York Friday?
N) Last weekend saw the deaths of what two great female rock ’n’ roll singers associated with Australia?
O) Climate change part 2: Temperatures climbed past 100 degrees for the second time this summer in what usually mild climate European country?
P) In Iowa, the Mahaska County Republicans’ attempt to censure what politician was voided by the Republican state chair?
Q) Republicans stopped a bill that would lower the price of what life-saving medicine to $35 Monday?
R) Climate change part 3: What top US tourist city was inundated with short, heavy rain causing flooding and stranding tourists?
S) A video of what Texas candidate for governor of the state went viral when he admonished a heckler who laughed when the candidate mentioned Uvalde?
T) Trump vs. Justice part 3: Trump took the 5th amendment how many times when he testified in a civil case concern keeping a double set of books to avoid taxes in New York?
Xtra Credit) August 14, 1935 – President Roosevelt signed what major legislation into law that helped Americans afford to retire?
Between Hillary emailing risotto recipes from a private server and Trump selling our nuclear secrets, neither side seems to care much about protecting important information. – DougJBalloon tweet
I came across this article from the Reader’s Digest the other day. It is a fairly quick read chock full of statistics that make it very clear just how pervasive guns and violence are in America. An article like this quickly cuts through the crap and gets straight to the point.
Fair use policies allow us to only use a few excerpts. This is an article I am sure you will want to read and possibly bookmark.As noted in the subtitle, there are also several charts that really bring the problem of guns in America out in stark glaring light:
“June 3, 2022, was National Gun Violence Awareness Day. By then, there were already 235 mass shootings in the United States since the start of the year. If that pace continues, there will be 586 mass shootings in America by New Year’s Eve. As shocking as those gun violence statistics are, they would be an improvement over the prior two years. According to the Gun Violence Archive, there were 692 mass shootings in 2021, and 610 in 2020. And these numbers don’t include the roughly 20,000 other gun homicides, 25,000 gun suicides and 115,000 non-fatal gun injuries—including the 18,000 children shot and killed or wounded every year.
Gun violence doesn’t just affect the victims. The trauma also impacts survivors, their families and their communities, as well as society at large. Too often we can develop “trauma fatigue”—even as we’re trying to help the victims and families of shootings and do our part to prevent school shootings and gun violence in general—which makes us feel helpless in the face of the relentless violence. While the American Psychological Association recommends that we acknowledge our feelings, it’s also important to try to understand what’s happening and why it’s so hard to stop gun violence in America. After all, while gun violence isn’t a uniquely American phenomenon, what does seem particular to this country is the dizzying rate at which it happens and the lack of action by legislators, which is in stark contrast to how other countries respond to mass shootings.”
As noted in that excerpt, victims are not the only ones affected. The family suffers, friends and loved ones suffer from gun violence and communities suffer. The suffering may last a lifetime. In the case of communities, do they ever fully recover?
“Does having more guns make us safer?
If the gun lobby is correct, more guns in society makes for a safer society. But gun violence statistics tell a different story. Researchers at Stanford University found states that adopted right-to-carry concealed handgun laws saw their violent crime rates increase by 13% to 15% within 10 years. And according to the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, states with stricter gun regulations have fewer gun deaths per capita, while states with looser gun laws have much higher rates of gun deaths.”
Most every one has heard the statistic that people who have guns in their homes are more likely to experience gun violence via a family member that they are to use the gun for protection. People living together get in fights and in times of such passion pull out the gun. Or a child finds a gun not properly stored and pulls the trigger. Or a loaded gun is dropped. On and on it goes.
“Is mental illness the problem?
Many gun control opponents say that the key factor in gun violence in America is mental illness. In the wake of the Uvalde school shooting in May 2022, Texas Governor Greg Abbott said, “Anybody who shoots somebody else has a mental health challenge.” Mental health experts and criminologists who research mass murderers condemned Abbott’s claim as false and unjustly scapegoating people who suffer from mental illness.
A 2021 Rand Corporation study found that people with mental health problems are no more likely to engage in gun violence than others, and in fact are more likely to be victims of violence than perpetrators. It’s worth noting that other countries have similar rates of mental illness but nowhere near the same level of gun deaths.”
Scapegoating gun violence onto mental illness is yet another dodge perpetrated by the Gun Lobby. The simple truth is that our access to guns fuels the violence. The other simple truth is that the second amendment does not guarantee everybody aa right to a gun. It is tied to a well regulated militia.
Real issues seem to have little effect on the voting public these days. Democrats are currently governing extremely well, about as well as America has had in its history, despite being shackled by a radical right Republican Party that is doing all it can to bring any actual governing to a halt. This is at the national level.
Democrats are addressing or have addressed the climate crisis, the continuing hangover from a still active pandemic, outrageous drug prices, veteran’s health problems due to toxic burn pits, bringing critical manufacturing back to our shores, while continuing to investigate an attempted takeover of our government led by the previous president.
While doing all this, employment is at record levels. Also inflation which began at the end of the previous administration is slowly being tamed. It must be tamed slowly because a a head on collision with inflation would most likely cause a huge economic disaster.
By all measures Democrats are doing a great job even if they must compromise to get something rather than nothing. In previous decades the job being done by Democrats currently would be hailed as fantastic. With today’s media that has a vested interest in the radical Republicans. We seldom hear a word of praise for good governance. Even NPR is hard pressed to find something good to say.
These days radical Republican barely mention policy and issues. Their whole identity is in mouthing some meaningless phrases (“freedom”, “guns don’t kill”, “tax cuts” – (those are for the rich only)) while their reality is following a wannabe tin horn dictator and fearing that they may get on that tin horn dictator’s bad side.
Their party has turned literally into a cult of worshipping Donald Trump. That is the total summation of their policy. That includes going in totally on the BIG LIE that the 2020 election was fraudulent.
So here is a question for you. Let’s say you were needing help and needed to hire someone. Being able to trust that person was one of the most important criteria because you would need to trust that person to work on their own and produce results.
Who would meet those criteria? Chuck Grassley or Michael Franken? We have seen Grassley time after time betray our trust on things like court appointments, health care legislation, and just recently first turning his back on veterans and then turning his back on those who need insulin.
Just as another example, we see Grassley taking a nice farm subsidy from the government while time after time railing against others who may get a government subsidy such as Social Security or unemployment payments.
Social Security and Medicare will be on the line in this election. Can you trust Grassley to do the right thing with those vital programs? I sure can’t. But I can sure trust Mike Franken to do the right thing.
Across the board I could trust Mike Franken to do the right thing in most any situation. I couldn’t trust Grassley out of my sight. Even in sight he is untrustworthy.
Same goes with Kim Reynolds. We have seen her badly botch the pandemic response. We see her take free plane rides from donors. We see her actively working to destroy Iowa’s public school system. We see her actively working to outlaw abortion in Iowa and really screw up women’s reproductive health in Iowa.
Given such a track record, how could you ever trust her in any new situation. I would never want to hire someone like her. If you haven’t noticed, Reynolds has made it quite plain that she is working for the rich.
Iowa has a real choice this fall. Democrat Deidre DeJear for Governor
Deidre DeJear on the other hand has been a breath of fresh air in the stale environment of an Iowa that is run by one party. DeJear talks about what the state can accomplish. She talks of making our education system great again. She speaks of things we haven’t heard in a long time in Iowa. I trust her to make good decisions.
We have similar situations in our congressional races. Ashley Hinson and Mariannette Miller-Meeks double talk and come back around. They seem to have little grasp of issues like most Republicans. Their biggest concern seems to be complying with the rules of the cult of personality.
In contrast both Christina Bohannan and Liz Mathis have shown that they can be trusted by constituents to be trustworthy during their time in the Iowa legislature.
Think long and hard this fall. New issues will arise. Who can you really trust when they do. I can’t think of any Republican I would trust as their party becomes radicalized around a lawbreaking tin pot dictator wannabe.
Elections have consequences. Please support Rob Sand to continue his great work as Iowa’s watchdog. Check out his website to make a donation or sign up to volunteer. Follow Rob on Facebook and Twitter
Governor Kim Keynolds: (515) 281-5211 U.S. Capitol Switchboard: (202) 224-3121 Iowa Members of Congress - Rep. Randy Feenstra (R) - Rep. Ashley Hinson (R) - Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R) - Rep. Zach Nunn (R) Iowa US Senators - Senator Joni Ernst (R) - Senator Charles Grassley (R)
From our inbox received from the White House Office of Public Engagement on Friday August 12 – Check below for links to briefings/webinars this week including today, Tuesday at 2:30 central. Find out how the Inflation Reduction Act will tackle the climate crisis, cut prescription drug costs and benefit rural America. 
Blog For Iowa 